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Follow the 12 Days of Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness to achieve your New Year’s Resolutions! This 12-Day Formula For Success is the platform you need to finally make your health and fitness goals a reality.

NYNY (New You for the New Year) Challenge, Contest #3 – January 13, 2012

We've made it through Week 1 of the New You for the New Year Challenge and almost all the way through week 2! And we wanna know...

What changes did you notice when you became vegan? (This could be related to anything from energy levels, to weight, to mindset and outlook, to taste buds, or anything creative you want to share). How did becoming vegan change you?

Here's How to Enter:

1) Post your answer as a reply to this post. (You must be a forum member to post/enter. Not a member yet? Click here: ucp.php?mode=register )

2) A winner will be selected at random from all answers posted by 9:00 PM Pacific on Friday, January 12. Prizes will be shipped at the completion of our New You for the New Year program, during the first week in February.

Going vegan changed me in a ton of ways. I noticed a major change in my energy level first. I started eating a lot more fruits a vegetables and saw almost an immediate change in my sleep quality and mood throughout my day. I dropped a little weight in the first few months due to how improved my diet had become. Going vegan also brought my love for cooking back out. I had been the president of my school's culinary club in high school and after graduation I just fell away from cooking. I opened up to new foods and experimented with dishes from all sorts of ethnic cookbooks. I am in love with the foods I've found through veganism. I have learned a lot more about nutrition as well. Before the change happened I would never think about eating a balanced diet, I just ate what was convenient and cheap. Now I make sure I get the protein I need, calcium, vitamin C, A, D, as well as my iron intake. My favorite change of all has to be my mindset! Hands down. I was never a terrible person in my opinion, but there was much room for improvement in my attitude towards others and life in general. Since going vegan I have been much more compassionate and loving towards people, myself and the one existence I believe I have. I don't take things for granted as often any more. I feel alive. Sounds cliche I suppose, but it is absolutely true. I have never felt so connected at any point in my life, than these last 2 years. I live my life with a clean conscience knowing that I go out of my way to cause as little harm as possible. I spread the knowledge that I gain with my research because I believe in celebrating my intelligence rather than enabling ignorance. I constantly try to better myself every day. I'm in love with this lifestyle and I'll NEVER go back.

I became vegan in May of 2005 after working at a Fast Food Restaurant for several years, and becoming very disgusted with what I saw. There have been numerous changes in my life after almost 7 years of veganism, and I've had lots more energy than I've had in the past.- I lost weight around my mid section, and had a 6 pack for the first time in my life by the end of the Summer, 2005.

- I've gotten very much into gardening, food production, and trying to make better produce more readily available at lower costs.

- While I've always loved fruits and vegetables, being vegan opened my eyes to so many fruits and veggies I've never really tried or appreciated.

- I've gained a major appreciation for food, everything from cooking to raw foods, seasonal and local.

- I've gained the Superhero ability of inspiring people around me to eat more fruits and vegetables. (okay, not Superhero, but it's still cool)

- Most importantly, I've made friends in all corners of the world, and have networked with so many amazing people doing so many incredible things.

Becoming vegan has changed my outlook on life in many ways. I feel so much more aware of my surroundings & my impact upon them. I take much more notice of how beings are treated, both near me & in articles/posts I read in social media. Obviously my diet changed significantly, & I found myself becoming so much more aware of what was in my food & where it came from. I have found that once it became known at my work that I was a vegan, so many people would want to ask me about it which allowed me to share my beliefs & knowledge without sounding preachy. Many came to respect my position & the many vegetarians at work appreciated having someone that had a stricter diet than them. If Damo could eat something at a work event, then they knew that it was fine for them to eat it too. Because I was rock climbing I found myself really wanting to eat well to maintain my strength and fitness, & proving to many that you don't need meat for protein, strength & muscle production. I found my asthma improve since ridding dairy from my diet and I saw improvement in my skin. I also supervise teachers of food & nutrition and since my change to veganism they have incorporated it into many of their programs which has sparked the interest of many students who then seek more information from either them or me. I really enjoy sharing my beliefs this way, because it is informing them through their interest in knowing more.

The path to veganism opened up a whole new world of food, friends, books, websites and restaurants for me! I researched and tried all types of foods I had been unfamiliar with before like flax, hemp, quinoa, amaranth, tempeh, coconut milk, athletic supplements like Vega, and websites like this one! I certainly found there was far more to it than a life of salads. And, I don't have to worry about getting enough protein!

For me going vegan meant cutting out dairy and making sure there were no egg products in the food I was eating because by that point, I had been vegetarian for a while. I initially became vegan for health reasons. I noticed a number of immediate and gradual changes when I did. I was no longer coughing all the time, I was able to give up my inhaler despite being told I would need it for the rest of my life, issues I was having with my reproductive system have pretty much disappeared (giving up sugar has also helped regulate my hormones) and all the gross mucus-filled colds and virus disappeared. I am no longer wrestling with sinusitis, bronchitis and asthma on a regular basis. I feel great!

I used to eat cheese three to five times a day. The only way to make it stick was to appeal to my sense of compassion, empathy and logic. I picked up Diet for a New America and sealed the deal. After that, even if I had a craving melted cheese (hurray for Daiya!) or found myself drooling over a hunk of brie at a party or butter croisssants in France, I could no longer put my cravings and need for indulgence before the animals, the environment and my health.

Being vegan has also given me the tools to inspire others by sharing what I know. There's no better conversation starter than showing up in the lunchroom at work with a colourful, varied and aromatic lunch. Through these experiences I've learned to be more tolerant of those who make different choices, a lot of times, they just don't know the full impact of what they're doing by eating what they eat. If someone doesn't want to know, I won't tell them but I've found that planting the seed and piquing curiosity can really make a difference over the long term. Their curiosity eventually turns into experimentation and that experimentation has sometimes lead to less animal products and more vegan fare.

Lastly, being vegan led me here and opened my eyes to the vegan athletic community. I am grateful for all of your inspiration. This is the first time I've logged in since May 2009 but I've continued to be inspired by Robert and the work that he's doing. Like I said last week Robert, your tweets, keep my head in the game. All your badgering will have my training journal up this weekend.

It has been a little over 10 years now and I would not have it any other way. Growing up with a huge family we ate a lot of vegetables, pastas and not so much meat. At very young ages 2 of my sisters and I stopped eating meat because we just did not prefer it. My sisters are vegetarian but I took the plunge and went vegan at 17 after I cracked an egg and saw something that resembled an eye and blood (I will never forget). My taste buds have changed for the better. I don't use or cook with salt anymore. I lost a lot of uneccesary weigh and joint pain and get to cook everyday!! It has kept me on track more so now than ever in the health department. I have not been this weight since 5th grade and have never been a single number in clothing size as an adult. I have energy, great skin and I feel 1,000x happier and I am so grateful for that.

Becoming vegan led me to a wonderful community of people who are very helpful, wonderful new foods, improved mental clarity, improved sleep, and a happiness I haven't ever felt due to being sick all the time from being loaded down with meats and dairy products.

I do because I can. I can because I want to. I want to because you said I couldn't.

Becoming vegan has really opened my eyes to the world. I grew up with a family who doesn't season their food at all. Pepper? What is that? So when I became vegetarian then vegan 10 years ago I started seeing all these different types of foods out there that I could eat. My diet is so diverse now and quite colorful and I feel so healthy and happy and vibrant in a way I never was. I most certainly attribute this to my becoming vegan.

Becoming vegan changed a lot in me.I learned much about proper nutrition,I have way more energy than I thought I ever would have. Not only more energy, I am more alert, and feel more balanced.I am more aware about what is in my food, and I feel more empowered.I like how my body is changing. I have shed some weight, I am walk/jog more, I life weights and now I am learning about other things I can give my body.It's an amazing journey!!

Vegan in the only way!!Thanks to rober, Engine 2, my trainer for the month of January claudia...she rocks!!

Becoming vegan has improved my health 10fold!!! In addition to that I have continued to do more research on what goes in my mouth and on my body. I am much more conscience of the the earth and animals and the world around me.

I also find that I am more "in touch" with myself - I feel physically cleaner an therefore think more clear. I may wax and wane between raw vegan and cooked vegan. however I'll NEVER go back to a carnivore lifestyle...

While many may think of veganism as a restrictive diet, when I went vegan my diet become much more diverse. I now get excited about eating fruits and vegetables! There is something very comforting about knowing that everything I am eating is actually good for my health.

Going vegan made me love food. As a vegetarian for 10 years I battled some pretty messed up eating habits. When I came to veganism, I lived in the middle of nowhere and had to learn to cook. I discovered I LOVED cooking and learning about new foods, and now I am a self-proclaimed vegan foodie.

Going Vegan lead me down a great path of compassion, livelihood and a great and very welcoming community. In the past few years I have been blessed to meet great vegan athletes, work with organizations to see sheltered animals get adopted and the retrospect of my childhood where we rescued any animal that was in trouble. and rehab them before turning them loose into the wild.

Going vegan has lead me to vega, which has lead me to so many new people and friends people I would never have known about otherwise and who I can consider a valuable part of my life. The choice was made at a good time and now the path has lead me to doing some great things this year that I am really looking forward to.